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Project Tango

google.com

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Re: Project Tango

#201

Post by nostrademons »

discostrings wrote: post #183
blhack wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good god I am so sick of reading comments like this. This view of the world is just lazy . Almost as lazy as "remember, if you're using a service for free, you're not the customer, YOU'RE THE PRODUCT!", which seems to get parroted every single time there is any discussion related to google, facebook, microsoft, instagram, twitter, or any other web company that uses ads as a revenue model. Yes, google can know what yo…

> Good god I am so sick of reading comments like this. This view of the world is just lazy. I think your view of the world is the lazier of the two--you're basically saying "let's not worry about the negative implications of the things we create as long as our intentions are good". > Who cares? If you don't like these services, don't use them. Nobody is forcing you to use this device . . . If you don't like modernity…

I think the grandparent's point is to focus on things that are actionable. If you are worried about the information Google collects on you and so choose not to use Google products - fine, that's your right. But if you're worried about the information Google collects on you and so choose to plaster that all over message boards every time Google is mentioned - exactly what are you accomplishing? Do you think the people reading your comment don't already know what information Google has available? Do you think Google's going to change its practices because you complain?

Re: Project Tango

#202

Post by christoph »

konstruktor wrote: post #111
martythemaniak wrote: post #27

This is essentially putting a Kinect in your phone and hooking it up with hopefully high-level APIs. It may take 2-3 years to make it into regular phones, but when it does it will be huge. Apple's acquisition of PrimeSense (the makers of the 1st gen Kinect) means they're also working on this. To give you a real-world example: when I started BarSsense ( http://www.barsense.com ) the core problem was tracking the path…

Wow, this is an amazing application. I love olympic weightlifting, and seeing somebody build a training aide using computer vision in an app makes me feel like living in the future. What a nice contribution to this beautiful sport.

This. I hadn't seen this app before and as I soon as I saw it I clicked "Install". Lovely stuff. Look forward to putting it to the test tomorrow and the foreseeable future.

As an aside, do you expect to monetize this in someway, or are you just doing it for the good of man?

Re: Project Tango

#203

Post by throwaway_yy2Di »

jlas wrote: post #18

"Unfortunately, due to FCC restrictions, we can only send development units to incorporated entities or institutions at this time." That's a bummer. Also, the page's default background-color should be set to black (or something dark). Most of the text is white(ish) and with a slow connection the background images take a while to load, making it impossible to read while you wait. /rant

I suspect a single-person LLC would count, and in most states (other than CA) you can set that up for less than the cost of a phone.

http://www.andysirkin.com/GetDocument.cfm?Resource=224&Hit=1

[this is not legal advice]

Re: Project Tango

#204

Post by martythemaniak »

christoph wrote: post #202
konstruktor wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, this is an amazing application. I love olympic weightlifting, and seeing somebody build a training aide using computer vision in an app makes me feel like living in the future. What a nice contribution to this beautiful sport.

This. I hadn't seen this app before and as I soon as I saw it I clicked "Install". Lovely stuff. Look forward to putting it to the test tomorrow and the foreseeable future. As an aside, do you expect to monetize this in someway, or are you just doing it for the good of man?

Thanks to both of you, I hope you find it useful and let me know if you run into issues.

I'm planning to monetize and I have a few ideas, hopefully one of them works out!

Re: Project Tango

#205

Post by philmcc »

throwaway_yy2Di wrote: post #203
jlas wrote: post #18

"Unfortunately, due to FCC restrictions, we can only send development units to incorporated entities or institutions at this time." That's a bummer. Also, the page's default background-color should be set to black (or something dark). Most of the text is white(ish) and with a slow connection the background images take a while to load, making it impossible to read while you wait. /rant

I suspect a single-person LLC would count, and in most states (other than CA) you can set that up for less than the cost of a phone. http://www.andysirkin.com/GetDocument.cfm?Resource=224&Hit=1 [this is not legal advice]

Sunbiz.Org, Florida is $125.00 for an LLC.

Re: Project Tango

#207

Post by deletes »

fudged71 wrote: post #180
deletes wrote: post #154

I understand the idea that you can get the exact positions of the surrounding, if you have an accurate position of the device. But how are they achieving that? I don't know of any such small tech capable of being accurate to 1cm, without external help. I don't see how can they do this without an accurate position of the device. An example when it breaks down without the position information: Pointing the device perpe…

I'm sure tiny gyros and accelerometers have improved in the past couple years. They've probably advanced dead-reckoning using existing sensors. And maybe they can use both front and back cameras for position information.

But they haven't improved. Oculus is having these problems right now. Their best solution is having an additional camera looking at the user, and they have a much simpler task with a stationary user.

Re: Project Tango

#208

Post by discostrings »

nostrademons wrote: post #201
discostrings wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Good god I am so sick of reading comments like this. This view of the world is just lazy. I think your view of the world is the lazier of the two--you're basically saying "let's not worry about the negative implications of the things we create as long as our intentions are good". > Who cares? If you don't like these services, don't use them. Nobody is forcing you to use this device . . . If you don't like modernity…

I think the grandparent's point is to focus on things that are actionable . If you are worried about the information Google collects on you and so choose not to use Google products - fine, that's your right. But if you're worried about the information Google collects on you and so choose to plaster that all over message boards every time Google is mentioned - exactly what are you accomplishing? Do you think the peopl…

> if you're worried about the information Google collects on you and so choose to plaster that all over message boards every time Google is mentioned - exactly what are you accomplishing?

If you're worried about the information Google collects about /everybody/, and you're posting in /relevant topics/, I think you're accomplishing quite a lot. I think it's really important that when new technology is announced, interested parties discuss both "here are some exciting new possibilities" and "here are some areas for concern". In an impartial discussion forum, a product announcement shouldn't just be an excitement-fest.

> Do you think the people reading your comment don't already know what information Google has available?

This technology will likely result in Google and others collecting and having access to new sources of information about people. I think that many people reading the announcement might not immediately think about some of these implications, and I think it's a great time for review and examination of the topic.

> Do you think Google's going to change its practices because you complain?

I think some engineers and others working on this project and other projects at Google probably read HN, and I think comments here could have an effect on how they build this product and what data is eventually sent to the company. Reading these concerns might be a good reminder to reflect on these things from time to time as well.

> I think the grandparent's point is to focus on things that are actionable.

Action without reflection is a dangerous formula. Google is taking action by building this and announcing it. What we do at HN is learn, reflect, and discuss.

Re: Project Tango

#209

Post by moultano »

sneak wrote: post #96
hrayr wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the solution? Stop innovating because there's a slight chance of said innovation being used for evil? I'm all for being wary of what's going on, so that you don't get caught with your pants down, but what's the absolute worse that can happen? Every single tech that you can think of that has changed the world in some form, had it's own set of doomsayers, but as a whole I think we've progressed in the right dire…

The solution is to stop centralized data collection. The reason it doesn't happen is because corporations don't like giving up control of data that they can keep to themselves and store forever. Many of these apps could run clientside and access the cloud solely for information, but that doesn't fit in with the Google vision of organizing the world's information and making it useful for selling products and services…

This is a very myopic view that has already caused many deaths. Privacy concerns around medical records have prevented any central database of them from being built, and thus prevented us from saving all of the lives that could be saved by analyzing that data.

Data is what lets us keep hospitals safe by establishing best practices, lets us cure diseases, lets us avoid unnecessary treatment, and just in general, separate fact from fiction. If we can't aggregate data, we can't do those things nearly as effectively as we could, and simplistic views of privacy have prevented this from happening.

There are plenty of concerns about data, and plenty of ways of mitigating those concerns, but a blanket condemnation of any centralized data would hold humanity back immeasurably (and in fact, already has.)

Re: Project Tango

#210

Post by Serow225 »

martythemaniak wrote: post #204
christoph wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I hadn't seen this app before and as I soon as I saw it I clicked "Install". Lovely stuff. Look forward to putting it to the test tomorrow and the foreseeable future. As an aside, do you expect to monetize this in someway, or are you just doing it for the good of man?

Thanks to both of you, I hope you find it useful and let me know if you run into issues. I'm planning to monetize and I have a few ideas, hopefully one of them works out!

Very neat. Making the screenshot animated might give an even better idea of how it works and make the page a little more dynamic/involving. Do you have any plans to have it analyze the trace(s) and give the user suggestions on what to change?
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